Evolutionary medicine

Question 1

What is evolutionary medicine?

Answer 1

The study of evolution’s role in understanding and treating disease.

Question 2

How does natural selection affect disease development?

Answer 2

Traits that increase early-life survival and reproduction are favored even if they cause late-life disease.

Question 3

What is antagonistic pleiotropy?

Answer 3

When a gene has beneficial effects early in life but detrimental effects later.

Question 4

Why does aging occur according to evolutionary medicine?

Answer 4

Mutations that cause late-life diseases are not strongly selected against.

Question 5

How can genes associated with aging also be positively selected?

Answer 5

They improve reproductive traits early in life, promoting positive selection.

Question 6

What is the ‘Old Friends’ hypothesis?

Answer 6

Lack of early microbial exposure leads to autoimmune disorders.

Question 7

How has modern life disrupted microbial exposure in early life?

Answer 7

Children encounter fewer microbes due to hygiene, antibiotics, and lifestyle.

Question 8

What is maternal transmission of gut microbes?

Answer 8

Passing beneficial microbes from mother to offspring at birth.

Question 9

What are consequences of reduced microbial exposure early in life?

Answer 9

Increased risk of allergies, asthma, and autoimmune disorders.

Question 10

What is virulence?

Answer 10

The harm a pathogen causes its host.

Question 11

How can virulence evolve in pathogens?

Answer 11

Traits that maximize replication within a host but balance transmission.

Question 12

What is the trade-off in pathogen virulence evolution?

Answer 12

Too much damage kills the host before transmission, limiting pathogen spread.

Question 13

What happens if a pathogen becomes too virulent?

Answer 13

It dies with the host before spreading.

Question 14

Why might lower virulence be favored in some transmission scenarios?

Answer 14

Pathogens relying on long survival of hosts evolve lower virulence.

Question 15

Why might high virulence evolve in other cases?

Answer 15

If transmission is fast, high virulence may be favored.

Question 16

What is the influenza virus?

Answer 16

An RNA virus causing seasonal respiratory illness.

Question 17

What is hemagglutinin (HA)?

Answer 17

A viral surface protein targeted by the immune system.

Question 18

Why do flu vaccines need to be updated yearly?

Answer 18

The virus mutates frequently, escaping previous immune defenses.

Question 19

What is antigenic drift?

Answer 19

Small gradual changes in virus antigens over time.

Question 20

What is antigenic shift?

Answer 20

Major antigenic changes from combining different virus strains.

Question 21

How does reassortment contribute to influenza evolution?

Answer 21

Mixing of genetic material from two different influenza viruses.

Question 22

What is the WHO’s role in influenza surveillance?

Answer 22

It coordinates global surveillance and vaccine strain selection.

Question 23

Why is predicting influenza strains difficult?

Answer 23

Rapid viral mutation and evolution make strain prediction hard.

Question 24

What are mutant swarms in viruses?

Answer 24

A population of many virus variants with different mutations.

Question 25

How does selection act on flu virus populations?

Answer 25

Selection favors viruses that escape immunity.

Question 26

What is the effectiveness range of flu vaccines?

Answer 26

About 40%-60%.

Question 27

How could a pandemic influenza strain emerge?

Answer 27

Reassortment between animal and human viruses.

Question 28

What is antibiotic resistance?

Answer 28

Bacteria surviving antibiotic treatment evolve resistance.

Question 29

How did bacteria evolve antibiotic resistance?

Answer 29

Mutations and natural selection favor resistant bacteria.

Question 30

What is horizontal gene transfer?

Answer 30

The movement of genes between different bacterial species.

Question 31

What are resistance gene cassettes?

Answer 31

Groups of resistance genes that can move together.

Question 32

Why is antibiotic resistance a major health threat?

Answer 32

It could cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050.

Question 33

How can we combat antibiotic resistance?

Answer 33

Reduced antibiotic use, better stewardship, and new drugs.

Question 34

Why is antibiotic misuse in agriculture problematic?

Answer 34

Overuse selects for resistant bacteria in livestock and humans.

Question 35

What is the predicted impact of AMR by 2050?

Answer 35

10 million deaths annually projected by 2050.

Question 36

Why is discovering new antibiotics important?

Answer 36

Because existing antibiotics are losing effectiveness.

Question 37

What natural sources might provide new antibiotics?

Answer 37

Hydrothermal vents, soils, and untapped ecosystems.

Question 38

How does environmental change influence antibiotic resistance?

Answer 38

Human activity changes selection pressures favoring resistance.

Question 39

How does evolution explain increasing antibiotic resistance?

Answer 39

Resistance mutations provide survival advantages under antibiotics.

Question 40

How does flu virus reassortment differ from mutation?

Answer 40

Reassortment swaps large genome segments; mutation changes single bases.

Question 41

What role does host immune memory play in flu evolution?

Answer 41

Immune memory pressures viruses to evolve new antigens.

Question 42

Why do scientists model flu strain evolution?

Answer 42

Models predict emerging dominant strains for vaccine design.

Question 43

What is the relationship between pathogen replication and transmission?

Answer 43

Replication increases virulence but too much can kill the host too fast.

Question 44

How can studying pathogen evolution improve public health?

Answer 44

Predicting pathogen evolution helps with vaccine and treatment design.

Question 45

What evolutionary trade-offs exist in antibiotic resistance genes?

Answer 45

Resistance often carries fitness costs without antibiotics.

Question 46

Why might reducing antibiotic use slow resistance?

Answer 46

Less use reduces selection for resistant bacteria.

Question 47

What are examples of new strategies against antibiotic resistance?

Answer 47

Phage therapy, targeted antibiotics, and stewardship programs.

Question 48

How can evolutionary medicine guide future healthcare practices?

Answer 48

It promotes interventions that work with evolutionary processes, not against them.